Of Rocks and Relationships
by Orangen
Summary: Roark goes to see Moss Rock and meets Gardenia. Mild MossShipping with implied SenirasuShipping on the side.


_Disclaimer_: I, unfortunately, do not own Pokémon. If I did, Moss Shipping would be canon.

_Author's Notes_: Credit for the basic idea of this fic goes to the lovely people in the old Moss Shipping discussion on the Serebii forums. I just decided to work off of the Moss Rock idea we talked about. (Yes, I know, I'm cheap.) Also, Leafeon is amazing and credit for Xpop the Ambipom goes to Latias Eevee (go read her fics _now_). Oh, and there are brief mentions of Candice/Volkner too, so… yeah.

**Of Rocks and Relationships**

"Roark! I've been trying to get through to you for _hours_!"

The red-haired Gym Leader winced slightly as he sat down in front of his videophone. He'd just gotten out of a match—he'd won, but just barely—and before that, he'd been down in Oreburgh Mines. Just after his match, one of his gym assistants had informed him that he'd had a call.

The girl on the other side of the line was one he'd fought several months ago and awarded a Mine Badge to. Rei Howard had then promptly insisted on taking his gym's phone number and had started calling every other day; according to Rei, this was a routine habit for her. She impatiently brushed a piece of her curly blonde hair out of her face as she waited for him to answer.

"I… I'm sorry, Rei. I had a match, and—"

"Oh well," Rei interrupted. "Anyway, I was visiting Eterna City again a couple days ago, and I saw something you might find interesting."

"Really?"

"Yeah, see, in Eterna Forest, there's this big old moss-covered rock. I was training around there, and then…"

"Wait, a rock?"

"Yes, a _rock_," Rei replied, rolling her eyes. "But that's not…"

"Wh-where in Eterna Forest is it?"

Roark realized he must have sounded incredibly odd, but this _was_ Rei. She was quite strange herself, and she at least knew about his rock collection. The fact that he'd even told her about the collection was an oddity, and hardly anyone knew he still kept up with it.

"Like… In the southern part, maybe?" Rei popped the large wad of pink bubblegum she'd been chewing. "But—"

"Okay, thanks, Rei!"

Roark quickly stood back up and slid his boots back on. As he turned away from the still-powered-up video phone, Rei smacked her forehead with her palm.

"No, I didn't want to tell you about the rock! I wanted to tell you about my new Leafeon!"

Rei realized her wails were falling on deaf ears when she heard the front door of Oreburgh's gym slam. Sighing, she mentally punched herself a few times, and then closed her connection to Roark's phone.

"Hey, Xpop! C'mere!"

A large Ambipom tumbled down the stairs of Rei's living room, giggling. As he stood up and brushed himself off, Rei frowned.

"You wouldn't happen to know where my phone list is, would you?"

Xpop grinned and held out one of his tails. Clutched in the hand on the end was Rei's pocket book of phone numbers. It had gone missing after she'd dialed Roark's number, and it turned out she'd been right in assuming Xpop had taken it.

"Okay… I just need to look up that one number…"

Rei flipped a few pages, and then dialed a new number on her video phone. Soon, another familiar maroon-haired man appeared on screen.

"Hey, Byron? I just wanted to ask you something about your son… No, it's nothing like that! I just wanted to know what his usual reaction is when you tell him about rocks and such…"

- - -

Roark stumbled slightly as he ducked under a tree branch. True, he wasn't exactly out of shape, but he still wasn't very outdoorsy. Coupled with Rei's vague directions, this led to him having wandered around Eterna Forest for quite some time.

The Gym Leader sighed. He probably shouldn't have run off immediately after talking to Rei. Thinking back on it, he hadn't even turned the phone off. However, Eterna was less than an hour from Oreburgh…And the only vaguely rock-like objects he'd gotten to see lately were bits of coal.

However, Roark found himself jumping every time he stepped on a fallen branch. For someone who regularly worked in a coal mine, it was almost embarrassing how jumpy he was getting…

- - -

Gardenia stretched as she walked out of Old Chateau. She usually went at least once a week, since she was in Eterna Forest almost every day anyway in her free time. Most people found the old mansion creepy, but she didn't.

Plus, it was fun popping out at the people who _did_ enter. The brunette Gym Leader giggled, remembering that the last time she'd jumped out at someone, she'd been mistaken for a ghost.

Gardenia then took a few turns, heading for Moss Rock instead of going back to the gym. Everyone in Eterna knew she closed up at seven and stayed out late anyway, and she was trying to get a Leafeon. She'd gotten an Eevee as a gift from Candice a few weeks ago, who was trying to evolve hers into a Glaceon.

Fortunately, she knew the forest by heart, and it was a matter of minutes before she arrived at the rock. True to its name, large amounts of moss grew out of it, and it seemed to be exuding its own energy. Then again, though, people "felt things" in Eterna Forest all the time anyway.

Gardenia reached for her Eevee's Pokéball and grinned. However, she soon heard someone stumbling around behind her, and blinked as she turned around.

A fairly tall, red-haired man ducked under a nearby tree branch, and stopped to wipe his forehead on the back of his hand, panting. He blushed when he realized Gardenia had been looking at him, and grinned sheepishly.

"Oh, um… You're Gardenia, right?"

Gardenia grinned back, recognizing him as the Gym Leader of Oreburgh. "Yep! And I think your name's Roark."

He nodded, and the two fell silent for a moment. Gym Leaders didn't actually get to see each other much outside of conferences and such, and it was obvious that Roark was finding it awkward coming up with something to say.

"So, what brings you here?" Gardenia asked curiously. "You don't really seem like you get out much, you know?"

"Well…" Roark blushed again. "I'm looking for this rock, and…"

"Oh. Do you mean Moss Rock here?"

Gardenia tapped Moss Rock as she leaned against it, and Roark blinked.

"I… Yeah."

"Oh, yeah, you're into this kind of stuff, right? Rocks and mines and all that?"

Roark, however, didn't seem to be paying much attention to her anymore. He'd carefully approached Moss Rock, and was reaching out to graze the moss. Gardenia frowned as Roark leaned closer to it.

"Hey!"

The Rock-Type trainer jumped slightly when Gardenia spoke, obviously not having expected her to. Her frown deepened.

"Um, sorry?"

"You know… I thought maybe we could hang out or something," Gardenia sighed. "Because Candice has been talking more to Volkner than me lately, and I'm so bored! But I guess I don't want to interrupt you either…"

"Oh! Uh…" Roark awkwardly stepped away from the rock and towards Gardenia. "I guess… we could. I'm just not really… good at that kind of thing."

Gardenia giggled. "You're kind of cute when you're nervous!"

"I-I am?"

"Yeah! Hey, want me to show you around Eterna? There are some cool old things around there you might like."

"Okay," Roark agreed. "Can we come back here later too? If you don't mind…"

"If it'll make you loosen up," Gardenia winked.

Roark blushed again. "Wh-what?"

"Oh, nothing! Let's go."

Gardenia grinned, looping her elbow through Roark's and half-walked and half-dragged the surprised man behind her. However, soon he was keeping up with the shorter Gym Leader, and didn't seem to be minding her excited chattering…

- - -

"Sorry, I'm out at the moment! I might call you back later if you leave a message, unless of course I forget."

An image of Gardenia flashed across the video phone, and Candice frowned. She'd been trying to contact her friend for a while, and hadn't been able to get through. Of course Candice knew that Gardenia liked to go out in Eterna Forest for half the night, but still… It _was_ pretty late, even for her.

"Okay, Gardenia, call me back when you get in. I just wanted to talk to you about Eevee, all right? Bye."

As Candice finished speaking, the image of Gardenia flickered away, and the black-haired girl shut her phone off. Sighing, she proceeded to dial Volkner's number.

"Hm? Oh, hi, Candice."

When Volkner answered the phone, he looked somewhat rushed. His normally messy hair was even more on end than usual, so Candice assumed he'd been fooling around with his gym's circuits again.

"Hey, Volkner. I can't get through to Gardenia," she announced bluntly.

"And…? Maybe she's busy?"

"Yeah, but she's usually back by now. I wonder if she's with someone?"

As Candice continued the conversation, she had no idea how true her question had been.


End file.
